I posted a rant last week about poor customer service I have encountered while grocery shopping recently, including one particularly irksome experience at Kroger. To make the long story short, I had a coupon that should have doubled and didn’t and no one, including the manager on duty, would make the adjustment to my receipt to correct the error in accordance with their policy. The manager on duty was particularly rude, prompting me to write a nasty-gram about the incident to Kroger’s corporate office in Ohio and threatening to take my business elsewhere unless I received a sincere apology for the incident from the store manager and the manager I had the issue with and an assurance I wouldn’t have any problems in the future. (kroger-complaint.pdf)
Well, I received a letter back from the corporate office yesterday and I must say I am amazed at how pathetic a response to the issue I received. You can read the response letter here. The jist of the letter is “thanks for writing us to let us know how crappy our service was, and we’ll load a whole dollar on your Kroger card to say we’re sorry and let the store know they pissed you off.” Here are my complaints with the response:
- They addressed me as “Ms.”, when my name obviously indicates I am not female.
- The lack of any acknowledgement that the store was wrong in their handling of this incident.
- The request that if I want to hear from the store manager I need to mail a form back to them with my phone number, a form which wasn’t even included with the response letter. Can retail managers not read and write anymore to the point they can send a letter in response?
- The gesture of loading $1.00 onto my card. Really? I have an unsatisfactory experience in your store with three of your employees wasting a good 20 minutes of my time arguing for an adjustment that should have been made without me even asking and $1.00 is going to make everything all better? If you aren’t going to make a meaningful gesture just don’t bother. Crediting me a whole dollar is just insulting!
So my point in this post other than pointing out Kroger’s horrible customer service is to show that complaining won’t always lead to a satisfactory resolution, but it can provide you the confirmation you need to know that you no longer want to do business with a company. I’m destroying my Kroger Plus card and plan never to return!
Tried in the past not spending money at places similar as you have had. Some of those places have gone out of business in the past but others have kept on chugging.
Here’s a better one as a compromise tried now. Pick off the loss leaders and sale stuff. Skip all their full price stuff. Minimize their profits but minimize your expenses.
Keep on posting. Sometimes its sadly odd to see some of the stupid stuff experienced myself- seeing someone else meet it too.
On the effects of the economy – this also affects the work place and at stores – sometimes they know you would have a hard time leaving at the moment or everyone is going to save a buck – you will come back. Its when the times are good again ( hopefully! ) that then they realize it when you’re gone.
Creating positive customer experiences starts with getting the basics of customer service right. It’s amazing how many major retailers can’t even seem to get these simple customer interactions right. This is where independent retailers of all stripes have an opportunity to distinguish themselves and create meaningful differentiation.
As small, customer-friendly retail businesses are disappearing, and mega-corporate stores are popping up everywhere filling the void, I think consumers are confronted more and more with poor customer service. To the point where poor service is practically expected and tolerated. To these corporations, the individual shopper is just one in a million, with limited options to shop elsewhere. How sad.